


Beta (Kunimitsu Tezuka)

by TheRainRogue



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Crack, Friendship, One Shot, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24415864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRainRogue/pseuds/TheRainRogue
Summary: You were strong, brave, out-spoken, reckless, stubborn, impatient, easily annoyed, ru – Well, you get the picture. If you had to be compared to someone, it’d be Kaoru Kaidoh of Seigaku. You show nothing but this annoyed, loner facade, but on the inside, you’re actually pretty nice. It’s hard to get close to you and get past your impenetrable fortress, but for those who have succeeded, they are rewarded with a loyal and caring friend. But, that’s nearly an impossible thing to do. It’s rare for you to attach yourself to someone, but when you do, you never let go.
Kudos: 1
Collections: Anime, One Shots





	Beta (Kunimitsu Tezuka)

  * **Genre** : Friendship, Crack ☁
  * **Word Count** : 2,240 ☁
  * **Pairing** : None ☁
  * **World** : Anime, Prince of Tennis ☁



_I wrote this fic a long time ago as a present to myself for my 18th birthday. I actually did get that fish in real life and named him that!_

* * *

You were strong, brave, out-spoken, reckless, stubborn, impatient, easily annoyed, ru – Well, you get the picture. If you had to be compared to someone, it’d be Kaoru Kaidoh of Seigaku. You show nothing but this annoyed, loner facade, but on the inside, you’re actually pretty nice. It’s hard to get close to you and get past your impenetrable fortress, but for those who have succeeded, they are rewarded with a loyal and caring friend. But, that’s nearly an impossible thing to do. It’s rare for you to attach yourself to someone, but when you do, you never let go.

One thing you hated more than anything was shopping, and that wasn’t limited to just clothes shopping, either. Shoes, books, movies, groceries. It didn’t matter. You hated it all.  
Which is why you couldn’t come up with a suitable excuse as to why you, Fuji, Momo, and Eiji were currently in Mal*Wart, looking through their pet section.

You could claim that you did it out of boredom. You could claim that you wanted to do something different for a change. You could claim that you secretly liked shopping.

Or hell, you could even claim that you just loved Mal*Wart, but those were all lies. The truth, however, was too damaging to both your pride and nerves. You would never, never, ever ever _ever_ , admit that you had caved to Kikumaru’s Kiku-Cat Pout, which was about twenty times more powerful than the ever-popular puppy pout. No, you intended to take that fact to your grave.

You didn’t know why the three wanted you to come along, but you did know why they were at Mal*Wart. Momo had found a small kitten on the street the day before and after some serious begging, his mother agreed to let him keep the orange tabby. Being excited as he was, he had invited the whole of Seigaku to go pet shopping with him so he could get food and all the other supplies he would need.

Echizen was first, of course. He blatantly refused and hung up on his senpai. Eiji was next. He agreed before the words left Momo’s lips. Oishi was busy helping out his uncle at the clinic and apologized before getting off the line. Kaoru was completely skipped over. Kawamura was busy helping his dad out around the sushi restaurant. Apparently, they were pretty busy today. Inui was angry because Momo interrupted ‘important research’ on his new drink. He even threatened to make Momo his guinea pig. Momo abruptly hung up the phone. Fuji had nothing to do and agreed. Momo didn’t even get to finish his sentence before his buchou hung up the phone.

You acted a lot like Ryoma, hanging up the phone after giving him an abrupt and firm ‘no’, but that didn’t stop them from showing up at your door and, well, you know the rest.

Momo stood in front of the vast selection of cat food, stressing over which food would be the best for the small animal. It was still just a kitten and he knew he had to be careful about what he bought for it. “Which am I supposed to get? Eiji-senpai? Fuji-senpai? Y/N-senpai?”

Eiji hummed, placing his hand on his chin in thought, the other arm across his chest. His blue eyes scanned the shelves of food before reaching forward and grabbing the first bag that caught his interest. He held the medium-sized bag up and grinned.

Shusuke chuckled. You deadpanned.

Momo sweatdropped, rubbing the back of his head. “E-Eiji-senpai… that’s dog food…”

“Eh?” Eiji blinked, turning the bag around in his outstretched hands so he could read the front. **DOG FOOD** was written in bold white letters on the front. “Eh?! I thought this was the cat isle!”

“Mal*Wart is a multi-purpose store. They have too many items to give cats and dogs their own isle,” Shusuke stated with a smile.

Eiji pouted at the bag, setting it back on the shelf half-heartedly.

Shusuke cocked his head to the side. “Saa, let’s see. This,” he picked up a colorful bag claiming to be for kittens and handed it to Momo. “That should be the correct food,”

“‘Should be’? Are you sure, Fuji-senpai?”

“Well,” his smile dropped and he held a hand to his chin. “That’s the only kitten food they have here…”

“Shouldn’t you go to Smartpets or Animalco for this?” you asked boredly, rubbing the back of your head. Mal*Wart was not the place to go when you just got a new pet.

“Maybe Y/N-chan is right,” Eiji rested his arm on your shoulder.

“But Smartpets is expensive!” Momo complained. “I’m on a budget here!”

“Animalco?”

“Animalco is even more expensive!”

While the three boys pondered their situation, you headed over to the aisle behind them where the fish tanks were. You were getting both bored and annoyed and decided to walk around looking at whatever crossed your path to calm your ever raging temper. It always did the trick for some reason.

You passed the tanks and was about to pass the sink when you froze. It was like some invisible force whispering in your ear, telling you to look over. Being someone who strongly believed in following your gut, you looked over. Above the sink was a small shelf, lined with several small round containers. Each container held a Beta fish, each varying in color, but were all about the same size.

You knew from experience that Betas had to be kept separate from other fish, including their own kind. They were loner fish and hated to be together with other fish. It was very rare to find one that got along with others. Other than the loner trait, they were truly beautiful. They came in ranges of colors, some were blues and reds with touches of purple, some were orange and gold. They shimmered like glitter, with tails and fins that looked like silk. They were probably the most beautiful type of fish out there.

When you were younger, you used to have many Betas and they were your favorite type of fish, easy to take care of. Best of all, they didn’t give you headaches or make messes or destroy anything like cats and dogs tended to do. They only bad thing about these fish was that they didn’t have long lives. Even if you take care of them properly, their life is just naturally short. _‘Fate dictates that they be taken away from us early,’_ you thought, remember the quote from the anime Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

You walked over, fingers brushing the containers. It felt like someone had a hold on your wrist, guiding it towards one of the containers in the front. Inside was a male Beta, shimmering with blues, reds, and purples, a small white streak standing out among them. It may very well be the most beautiful Beta you’d ever seen.

You gently grabbed the container, so as not to scare the little one, and brought it up to examine him closer. You didn’t understand why, but something was telling you to get this fish and you knew if you didn’t listen to your gut, you’d end up regretting it later. You always did.

Setting the fish down in a safe place, you examined the fish tanks and ornaments that they had. You wanted a big one, but not a huge one meant for many fish. You also wanted it to have a light and a filter. Once you found the perfect one, you proceeded to grab a couple bags of blue and white stones, a sign that said **BEWARE OF JAWS!!** , and a pirate skull cave complete with a black electric eel swimming from the eye.

Most people would question how you managed to carry all of that stuff without dropping anything or jostling the skittish fish.

Once Momo returned with a buggy – which you had ordered him to go get -, you set the items down. Shusuke raised an eyebrow in question but didn’t voice it. What felt like two hours later, the group paid for the items and left the store.

* * *

You stared at the multi-colored fish as he swam around in his new tank. It was obvious that he was in a state of shock. For one, Betas are never too happy with being moved around. Secondly, the bowl he had been in was small, confined, and safe. The tank he was currently in was much larger in size, with rocks and other small ornaments that he wasn’t used to having. You always found it annoying the way people bought teeny tiny little tanks for Betas to live in, without any decoration. What’s the point of having the damn thing?

You wanted to feed him but knew better; he was too shaken up at the moment, and probably wouldn’t touch the food. Since Betas vary, you bought both the pellets and the flakes. From your experience, every Beta you’ve ever had preferred the flakes, but the professionals always say they prefer the pellets. But, what do professionals really know? Or maybe you just always got the weird of the litter. Whatever, it didn’t really matter.

As you stared at the fish, you started to wonder what you should name him. You may not be able to take him out and pet him or perform tricks with him, but he was still a pet, even if you could only look at him and he deserved a name. But, with so many names floating around out there, you had no clue what to call him. It had to be something with meaning, but nothing stupid like ‘Spot’ or ‘Sam’. Seriously, what kind of name is Sam for a freakin’ fish?

“Ah!”

It was like a light bulb lit up over your head. You had thought of the perfect name!

Your lips curled up into a smirk and you gently set your finger on the side of the tank so that you didn’t scare him. You couldn’t wait to introduce the little guy to the team tomorrow.

* * *

Since you didn’t want to move the fish around while he was adjusting, you invited the gang over to your house – something which both excited and scared them since you rarely ever did that. With a single hand, you beckoned them upstairs to your bedroom where the fish tank lay on your desk away from the window.

“Is that the fish you bought the other day?” Shusuke smiled, cocking his head to the side as he admired it.

“Yeah. It’s an early birthday present for myself,”

Shusuke nodded without looking at you, leaning down to inspect the tank. He seemed genuinely interested.

“Have you named it yet?” Shuichiro asked softly, leaning down beside Shusuke to get a better look. The shimmering scales and graceful dance brought a smile to his face, just as it had done with Shusuke.

“It’s male,” you paused. “And yeah. The name came to me last night.”

Everyone turned to look at you, thinking you were going to continue and mention the name, but you stayed silent, staring stoically at the tank. The silence and stares continued until, finally, Momo and Eiji exploded.

“Well?!”

“Well what?” you blinked, looking over at the pair. You looked as if you had just snapped out of a trance.

Shusuke bit back a chuckle at the suspense and impatience hanging over his two teammates. “What name did you decide to go with?”

“Oh!” you returned your attention to the fish, shrugging. “Tezubeta,”

“…” Silence.

Everyone stared at you, curiously, wondering if you were going to say that you were joking, but you had returned to your trance, face and eyes showing no hint of a joke or a lie. You had truly named your fish Tezubeta.

“Is that… named after Tezuka?” Oishi glanced at the captain before looking back to you.

“Yep,”

“Not questioning you or anything, senpai, but… why’d you name it after the buchou?” Momo asked, glancing at the stoic male, who had not changed his expression.

“I figure, if you’re gonna name something you care about, it should be after something or someone that means a lot to you. Tezuka would be that person. He’s always been like family to me. So, yeah.”

The team didn’t know how to react. After all, you had never actually confessed to caring about someone before, and here you were, showing your house and your bedroom to the team, all the while confessing that you viewed Kunimitsu Tezuka as family. They had to wonder if you were sick. Or drunk. Or maybe even high. Was it opposite day?

Tezuka pushed his glasses up and walked towards you, resting his hand on your shoulder. Still, his expression did not change.

At first, he didn’t say anything; he just looked at you. The team leaned closer, wondering what their buchou was going to say or do. They inched closer with every passing minute, the suspense and tension growing in the small room. Why the hell did he feel the need to put them through this? They were only kids, for god’s sake! They couldn’t handle this kind of suspense!

Finally, Tezuka spoke. “Don’t let your guard down,”

The whole room, minus Kunimitsu and yourself, fell to the ground, sweatdrops appearing on the back of their heads. Even Tezubeta fell.

Ah, if only his fins were long enough he probably would have facepalmed, as well.

* * *


End file.
